The Palestinian National Council (PNC) called on the countries of the world and their parliaments that did not recognize the State of Palestine to recognize the State of Palestine, in accordance with the related resolutions of international legitimacy, and to achieve justice to the Palestinian people, who continue to pay a high price of blood and displacement, as a result of Balfour Declaration and its implementation and consequences at the expense of the Palestinian legitimate land and rights.

In a statement issued on the occasion of the 102nd anniversary of Balfour Declaration, PNC affirmed that this colonial promise is considered a crime under the regulations and rules of international law, whereas it led to the uprooting and displacement of more than half of the Palestinian population in the process of ethnic cleansing, destruction and extermination of more than 531 Palestinian villages and towns, in addition to hundreds of bloody massacres against our people.

It is time to put an end to the suffering of our people, PNC announced, the Palestinian people still live under a criminal occupation, due to the international community failure to hold the Israeli occupation accountable, and compel Israeli to implement the international decisions, the failure which led to the continuation of this crime which does not fall into obsolescence, and associated with aggression, killing, arrest and settlement. This crime requires accountability and prosecution of those who caused this disaster on our people.

PNC stressed the responsibility of the international community and its institutions and states to work to end the Israeli occupation, and enable the Palestinian people to self-determination, home return and the establishment of an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital. It is no longer enough to issue loose statements that will not end the occupation that challenges the international community and its decisions, that did not prevent the continuation of daily crimes against our people, their land and sanctities by the Israeli occupation forces and settlers.

PNC called on the British House of Commons and the House of Lords to pressure the British government to correct its grave mistake, admit its international legal responsibility, and commit to apply the principle of repairing the damage it has done to our rights, including apologizing and compensating Palestinian people, and recognizing the State of Palestine on the borders of 4th of June 1967.

PNC stressed that Palestinian people and their leaders are steadfastly confronting all suspicious deals and plans, including the so-called (deal of the century), that Palestinians will not allow the repetition of the Balfour Declaration, which was the ground of all the crimes that have befallen on the Palestinians. PNC is calling for a speedy end to the hateful division and responding to initiatives and calls launched by the leadership of the Palestinian people to restore national unity within The Palestinian Liberation Organization PLO, the sole and legitimate representative of our people.

The Balfour Declaration is a statement issued by British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour on 2nd of November 1917 in the form of a letter to Lionel Rothschild, one of the leaders of the Zionist movement in Britain at that time, stating that the British Government would do its utmost to establish A Jewish homeland in Palestine.

The Palestinian National Council (PNC) said that the response to Netanyahu and his government's declaration of imposing sovereignty over Jordan Valley, north of Dead Sea and settlements calls for the speedy implementation of the decisions of the Palestinian National Council and Central Council demanding the withdrawal of recognition of Israel and the suspension of all agreements with it.

In a statement issued this evening, PNC called for going ahead to the United Nations General Assembly at its next session, and demand to re-consider the membership of Israel in the UN, because it did not abide by UN resolutions, especially resolutions 181 and 194. PNC also called for international protection for Palestinian people and lands, in accordance with the resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly last year.

PNC considered that the announcement of Prime Minister of the Israeli occupation government Netanyahu to impose Israeli sovereignty on the occupied West Bank is a recklessness, disregard and a blatant challenge to the will of the international community, its institutions and decisions related to the Palestinian issue.

In the same statement, PNC said that the declaration of the Prime Minister of the occupation government is based on direct American support and encouragement, within the framework of the so-called (Deal of the Century), which poses a great danger, not only to Palestinian rights, but to security and stability in the entire region, as it comes in the context of Netanyahu’s elections campaign, which is based on aggression, expansion and settlement, in a try to win more votes from extremists and settlers.

PNC stressed that Netanyahu's announcement would not change the fact that all forms of Israeli settlement in the Palestinian state lands including the city of Jerusalem as recognized by the UN General Assembly in 2012, are illegal and illegitimate, and will not create any right to occupation there.

In the conclusion, PNC affirmed that the Palestinians have the right to defend their rights by all legitimate means, and that Israel and the region will not enjoy security and peace as long as this criminal occupation continues, and as long as Palestinian people do not enjoy freedom and live in their independent state, with Jerusalem as its capital, on the borders of June 4, 1967, and the return of refugees to their homes in accordance with resolution 194

The Palestinian National Council (PNC) held the Israeli occupation authorities fully responsible for the killing of the prisoner Mr. Bassam Al-Sayeh, the martyr who suffered from cancer during his detention in the Israeli jails since 2015, until his death yesterday.

In a press statement on Monday, PNC affirmed that this crime adds to the series of Israeli crimes against Palestinian prisoners as a result of deliberate medical negligence against them, in flagrant violation of the health conditions and medical care of prisoners set forth in Articles (29-33) of the Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners in time of war, dated August 12, 1949, the violation led to the rise in the number of prisoners martyrs to (221) prisoners inside the prisons of the occupation since 1967.

The occupation violates the same agreement, which provided for the treatment of Palestinian prisoners of war, PNC added, and prohibited the detaining force (Israel) from transferring them out of the occupied territory (Palestine), and also prohibited "The Detaining Power to commit any unlawful act or omission which causes the death of a prisoner in its custody and is a grave breach of this Convention."

PNC called on international human rights and humanitarian organizations, especially the International Committee of the Red Cross, to open an investigation into the crimes of medical negligence against prisoners and to carry out their duties by pressuring the Israeli occupation to implement international and humanitarian conventions related to the protection of Palestinian prisoners, whom are about 6,000 prisoners, and treat them according to its provisions.

PNC also warned of the fate of nearly 700 Palestinian prisoners suffering from chronic and serious diseases, including about 160 prisoners in need of immediate treatment outside the prisons of the occupation, to save their lives from death, which is about to get them, stressing the need to speed up the trial of the Israeli occupation leaders in the International Criminal Court for those and other crimes

The Palestinian National Council (PNC) strongly condemned the Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's pledge this morning to impose the sovereignty of the Israeli occupation on all settlements in the West Bank, considering it a new challenge to the will of the international community and the relevant resolutions of international legitimacy.

In a statement issued today, PNC said that the commitment of the head of the Israeli government to annex all settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories is a clear violation of the UN Security Council resolutions, especially the last resolution No. 2334 issued in December 2016, which considered all forms of Israeli settlements are illegal, and must stop all settlement activities, including in occupied Jerusalem.

Netanyahu's statements are not new, PNC added, and are influenced by the support and encouragement of the US to Israeli occupation, the latest is the decision of the US State Department a few days ago to delete the name of the Palestinian territories from its website, and statements by the US President Trump administration on the right of Israel to settle in the occupied Palestinian territories.

PNC affirmed that no decision, declaration or pledge issued by any party that legitimizes Israeli settlement in the territories of the occupied Palestinian state, the state which is recognized by the United Nations in 2012, are legitimate or legal.

PNC concluded its statement by stressing that there is no peace or security with the settlements and occupation, and the only guarantee to achieve security and stability in the Middle East is the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital on the borders of June 4, 1967, and the return of refugees to their homes in accordance with resolution 194.

The Palestinian National Council (PNC) considered the decision of the State of Honduras to open a diplomatic mission in occupied Jerusalem - linked to its embassy in Tel Aviv - is an attack on the right of the Palestinian people in the capital of their state.

PNC said in a press statement declared by its Speaker Mr. Saleem Al-Za’anoun on Thursday, that this resolution is a serious violation of international law and Security Council resolutions, particularly: resolutions 476 (1980), 478 (1980) and 2334 (2016), which all confirm that Jerusalem is an Arab land, and revoke any decision or action aimed at changing the identity, legal status or demographic composition of Jerusalem.

Under those international resolutions, no state may recognize any right to the Israeli occupation therein, Mr. Saleem Al-Za’anoun added, and may not open missions or embassies in this occupied city.

PNC stressed that it is the duty of the United Nations, in accordance with its Charter, and the duty of the world to protect security and stability in the worldwide, defend the decisions of the United Nations and ensure that Honduras will pay respect for international law, and pressure on it to reverse its illegal decision.

PNC called upon the Inter-Parliamentary Union and its member parliaments to work with the Honduras Parliament to pressure its government to comply with the resolutions of international legitimacy, and highlight the need to respect the rules of international law, particularly its commitment to UN Security Council Resolution 478 of 1980, which invalidated the Israeli Knesset decision to annex East Jerusalem as a so-called unified capital of Israel. PNC called on all states to withdraw their diplomatic missions from Jerusalem, and not to recognize the Israeli Basic Law of Jerusalem annexation.

PNC called on also the Arab Inter-Parliamentary Union, Arab Parliaments, the Union of Islamic Parliaments and friendly Parliaments to move towards Parliaments of the Group of Latin America and the Caribbean (GRULAC) Union, to pressure the Parliament and Government of Honduras to reverse this decision which is contradicting with the resolutions of international legitimacy, and is an explicit and complete bias towards the Israeli occupation and settlement.

The Palestinian National Council (PNC) affirmed that the responsibility of protecting Al-Aqsa Mosque and all Christian and Islamic holy sites, and providing the elements of resilience of Jerusalemites is primarily Arab and Islamic responsibility, in addition to preventing the consecration of the occupation plan of temporal and spatial division in Al-Aqsa Mosque.

On the 50th anniversary of the burning of Al-Aqsa Mosque, PNC said that the city of Jerusalem, with its Islamic and Christian holy sites, its steadfast inhabitants, properties, homes, historical, cultural and religious heritage, continue to be subjected to systematic Israeli aggression with the aim of emptying it from its Palestinian population and Judaizing Jerusalem.

PNC called on the related parliaments, and Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and all its institutions which were established after the fire of Al-Aqsa Mosque in 1969 by a Jew named Michael Dennis Rohan, to defend and protect Al-Aqsa Mosque, to provide urgent financial and political support to Jerusalem, and to invest all OIC diplomatic, economic and financial capabilities to stop the continuation of crimes, and the continuing Israeli occupation in the holy city.

Palestinian people need practical steps and effective support to enable them to withstand, PNC added, and protect Al - Aqsa Mosque and the rights of the Arab and Islamic nations in the city of Jerusalem which is facing real danger that cannot be confronted by verbal positions only, but by actions.

PNC announced its support for the call of the Jordanian House of Representatives to convene an emergency session of the Arab Inter-Parliamentary Union (AIPU) in Amman, to confront the violations and crimes of the Israeli occupation against Al-Aqsa Mosque, the city of Jerusalem and its Islamic and Christian holy sites, and take a firm and unified Arab parliamentary stance towards these aggressive policies and measures.

PNC presented the real dangers facing the city of Jerusalem and its sanctuaries, where the number of settlements exceeded 29, forming three girdles around the city, they encircle the area of the noble sanctuary of Jerusalem (Al-Aqsa Mosque surrounding), the Old City and the neighborhoods of Jerusalem, and Palestinian villages surrounding the city.

The Israeli occupation practices a policy of ethnic cleansing, PNC added, that includes the demolition of real estate, the abolition of Palestinian institutions, the obliteration of historical monuments, persecution and discrimination, expulsion of Jerusalemites, the confiscation of land and demolition of houses, and convert to Hebrew the Arabic names in the holy city.

PNC stressed that the city of Jerusalem is subjected also to undergoing change of historical and religious features, 105 synagogues are there in an attempt to falsify history, along with at least 28 tunnels, in addition to the implementation of 104 archaeological excavations in various locations, including 22 ongoing active excavations, most notably 4 excavations underneath and around Al-Aqsa Mosque, 5 excavations in Silwan, 5 excavations in the Old City of Jerusalem, and 8 excavations in different locations of Jerusalem.